Ashes 2019: Records on line as England prepare for daunting day

From collapsing to 122/8 on the first day, Australia have come a long way to being the favourites on the final day of the first Test at Edgbaston, Birmingham. England need to score 398 runs to win the Test or bat out the day to salvage a draw. Australia, on the other hand, require ten wickets to pocket the opening game. Unless rain rescues England, it will be a huge challenge for the hosts to survive this Test. Here is what the record books say.

Batting on all five days – Rory Burns brightly

When English opener Rory Burns will come out to bat on the final day, the 28-year old Surrey batsman shall become the 10th batsman in Test cricket history to bat on all five days of a Test match. He will join the list of Geoffrey Boycott, Alan Lamb and Andrew Flintoff as the only Englishmen to achieve this. From these, only Boycott’s feat occurred in an Ashes Test. India’s Chesteshwar Pujara was the last batsman to do so when he batted out five days against Sri Lanka in Kolkata (November 2017).

Although Australia batted first in this Test, they were bowled out for 284 in 80.4 overs. England had to come out to bat for two overs. Burns negotiated the phase and batted out the complete day two, finishing not out on 125. He added eight runs to his tally on the third day. Yesterday, on the fourth day of the Test, he once again appeared at the crease and batted out seven overs. Today, he will have the task of batting out a whole day.

Also read: Smith, Wade tons put Australia in command on Day 4

The mammoth chase for England

By declaring on 487/7, Australia set England a target of 398 runs. The highest winning chase at Edgbaston, Birmingham so far is South Africa’s 283/5. Graeme Smith played a magnificent knock of 154 not out to take the team home in 2008. England highest winning chase at this ground is 211/3 which occurred against New Zealand in 1999. To salvage a draw, the hosts will have to bat out 90 overs in the fourth innings today, something they have never done in their history at Birmingham.

While the target seems out of reach, batting out a day on this slow and deteriorating Edgbaston pitch will be a very difficult task for the Englishmen. If they manage to put up a fight, we are in for a thrilling ride on the final day of the first Test.

Rory Burns has now batted on all 4 days of this Test.

If he can survive the 7 overs of play today, he will join an exclusive list of players to bat on all 5 days of a Test.

9 batsmen have done it in the past; last was Pujara v SL, Kolkata, 2017. Only 2 in Ashes. #Ashes2019

— Bharath Seervi (@SeerviBharath) August 4, 2019